Jyotipriya asks ration shops to stay open 6 days a week

Kolkata: State Food and Supplies minister Jyotipriya Mallick on Friday asked the ration dealers to keep all shops across the state open six days a week. Shops will also remain open on Sunday, a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for people's curfew, asking citizens to voluntarily stay indoors from 7 am till 9 pm, in the wake of the COVID-19 situation across the country.

The minister, in presence of senior officials of his department, held a video conference with ration dealers across the state on Friday and meted out necessary instructions to ensure that the public distribution system (PDS) is not affected by any means. Till date, ration shops stay open five days a week.

"We have provided adequate sanitisers to all the ration shops in the state. The employees at the shops will see to it that people standing at the queue should sanitise their hands before taking the food grains. Our department is the license holder of LPG and the petrol pumps. We have also asked them to use sanitisers as frequently as possible during their daily activities," said Mallick.

The truck drivers and helpers will also be under supervision, while those involved in loading and unloading food grain sacks from godowns have been asked to maintain cleanliness to the best possible extent.

15,000 metric tonnes of paddy are reaching the CPCs on a daily basis and the department has already procured 30.34 lakh tonnes of paddy. The Food Corporation of India till date has procured 2.35 lakh metric tonnes of paddy for ICDS and mid-day meals. There are 352 CPCs and 91 DPCs involved in procurement across the state.

"The CPCs in the state are located inside the premises of Kisan Mandis or in reasonably larger areas. People are reluctant to visit the cooperative societies in the wake of COVID-19 as they are situated in small areas," a senior official of the department said.

The minister has urged the ration shops to hand over the allotted food grains of each customer once in a month, to avoid undue gathering at the shops.

Sources in the Food department said that presently Rs 6,000 crore is spent annually on subsidy of food grains. With Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing free food grains under PDS for six months, an additional Rs 3,000 crore will be spent from the state exchequer.